Introduction

Rwanda is really betting big on Africa with her intention to launch the first smartphone manufacturing plant. By April 2019, the country is set to open a smartphone factory that is ready to serve the African market.

Nigeria used to be referred to as the Giant of Africa, if you base that title on population then she probably is but in terms of business development and infrastructure, Nigeria is a dwarf.

Rwanda seeks to take the position of Giant; she recently announced the launch of a Smartphone Manufacturing Plant. The Plant will be opened by Mara Corporation and will set the record as the first African country to locally manufacture.

The country is actually championing Africa’s digital revolution and in a few years, Rwanda will become the Chinese of Africa, manufacturing nearly any consumer electronics products for the African market.

Rwanda Smartphones and 24 months Payment in Installment

Minister Paula Ingabire, Image credit: StartupAFRICA

The Minister of ICT, Rwanda: Paula Inabire said:

“Smartphones are important ICT tools since there are some digital services that only require smartphones, such as access to land services among others. There is also a need to ensure the affordability of smartphones whose high cost prevents citizens from benefiting from various digital services. We hope that the plant to locally produce smartphones will boost access.

Once the factory starts producing smartphones, people will be paying in installments over a period of 24 months. We also have to work with telecommunication companies to seek ways of reducing prices on internet use, which will boost ICT penetration and digital services.”

Rwanda Smartphone Manufacturing Plant

The plant that is set to be opened by April 2019 will create thousands of Jobs for the Rwandan economy and will create derived demand for several sectors and several other sectors in the country and in the continent.

The opportunities a Smartphone plant will provide are just endless, it could double the Rwandan GDP with only domestic demand.

The advantages of an African country manufacturing a Smartphone factory is that it will reduce the cost of smartphones in Rwanda and Africa. It will create Jobs and it will also be an opener for other industries.

$1 Billion in investment by Huaijan Chinese Investment Group

The Huaijan Chinese Investment Group has sought to invest $1 billion dollars in the plant and they also seek to manufacture a computer plant and other goods like shoes, clothes and other commodities.

Some countries have some really powerful brands. The US has Apple, China has Xiaomi, Huawei, South Korea has? Well, you guessed it right, Samsung and now Africa will have what? Maraphone. This will show the rest of the world that Africa is not just consumers only, and we are definitely not cool with assembling parts of machines, we are going into full-blown manufacturing.

What is Maraphone?

We said that Africa will have Maraphone, but what exactly is Maraphone? What is Maraphone? Maraphones are the smartphones that will be developed under the Mara company. Just like Apple corporation produces iPhones, Mara corporation produces Maraphones.

They are the company the government of Rwanda is in negotiations with to establish the smartphone factory and this Pan-African technology company is actually good to go.

Watch the video introducing the Maraphone

https://youtu.be/80EK04R0IQ8

The Phone will run on the Android Oreo and will come with some OS optimized apps like Facebook Lite, YouTube Go and Twitter Lite which are apps made specifically for the African market.

Conclusion

Rwanda smartphone plant is going to be launched in 2 months time, we are all excited about this new development and I am quite convinced that Rwanda could be the real Wakanda!

Hi! My name is Ikenna Gabriel Ifenna and I am a professional IT consultant. I have an excellent understanding of how computer works and I love to read, write and research about tech kinds of stuff. I design websites, knows how to use WordPress multisite to create complex web applications and I design e-Commerce websites for businesses. When I am not doing any of these, you can find me riding bicycle with Strava. Want to work together? I would love to hear from you.

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